Hell is Other People?

Panel Discussion|Loneliness and Fragile Forms of Connection in Literature

Raum D201 - 202, University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH), Ho-Chi-Minh-Stadt
Sprache English (Vietnamese translation)
Preis Free admission

HCMC - Hell is Other People? © Goethe-Institut Vietnam

In collaboration with the Faculty of Literature and Languages at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, and on behalf of the Organising Committee of the European Literature Days in Vietnam 2026, the Goethe-Institut cordially invites researchers, lecturers, doctoral candidates, postgraduate students, undergraduates and anyone with an interest in literature to attend the discussion: ‘Is the Other Hell?: Solitude and Fragile Forms of Connection in Literature’

This roundtable discussion aims to create an interdisciplinary dialogue between literature, philosophy and psychology to reflect on the paradox of loneliness in contemporary life: the most intense states of loneliness often arise precisely in conditions of physical proximity or within the closest of relationships.

We are not only lonely amidst a sea of strangers; we feel as though we have lost our way even when right beside our loved ones. Does living alongside others in intimate spaces help us establish connections more easily, or does the friction within close, private lives make it impossible for us to escape their gaze, their judgement, or a shared history with them?

At the discussion, three writers and speakers from Germany, Austria and Vietnam will come together to dissect the structure of the hidden fractures within that remain unspoken, revealing the fragility of the human condition:

Miku Sophie Kühmel: unravelling the secrets and invisible distances beneath the smooth surface of a long-standing relationship, reflecting on unspoken intergenerational trauma.
Peter Simon Altmann: observes the existential loneliness and alienation of modern humanity.
Nguyễn Khắc Ngân Vi: dissecting the precariousness of love and the fragile bonds in contemporary urban life.

Speakers

Miku Sophie Kühmel was born in Gotha, Germany in 1992. They studied briefly in New York and longer in Berlin, where they now live and work. After publications in anthologies and magazines, their debut novel "Kintsugi" was published in 2019, for which Miku was awarded the Jürgen Ponto Foundation Literature Prize 2019 and the "aspekte" Literature Prize 2019. They have received scholarships from the Alfred Döblin House of the Academy of Arts, among others. In 2022, their second novel "Triskele" was published, with which Miku was nominated for the Clemens Brentano Prize 2023. After publishing their first anthology „Brüste“ with Linus Giese, working in several residencies such as Reykjavík (with the Goethe Institute of Denmark) or Vienna and diving into the world of theatre with the Deutsches Theater atelier project „Fellwechsel“, Miku published their latest novel „Hannah“ in 2025. It was particularly well received in the press, or as FAZ put it: „Kühmel gives Hannah Höch back one half of her life."
Peter Simon Altmann is an Austrian author. Born in Salzburg Austria 1968, studied theology and philosophy. Collaboration in various theater productions in Salzburg and Vienna. Working as a writer since 1999. Several working stays in Japan, Korea and China, supported by the Austrian embassies in Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing and others. Altmann writes novels, short stories, poems and essays and is a member of PEN-International Austria.